Finding ourselves in an overly saturated SUV segment, we looked to an overly saturated platform where we could extend our Tiguan positioning as the “new king of the concrete jungle,” and revive a mundane Instagram social experience. Instead of “thumb-stopping” posts, we aimed to hack Instagram as an immersive game. To turn every functionality into a tool to find 21 hidden Tiguan SUVs in a digital city. Gaming experts would help bring method to our madness as we hid the cars and created a narrative, incentive and structure around the Tiguan. By creating an interactive social experience we hoped to create a search for the Tiguan on Instagram and in the market.

As an Instagram-based campaign, we looked to influencers, paid posts and story posts from @vw to drive traffic into our city. Once there, a “Clue Tile” started the chase through a city grid made of hundreds of misleading videos and boomerangs. Carousel tiles contained 21 different versions of the Volkswagen Tiguan—in the form of a drawing, a sticker, a toy car, a photograph, or the actual thing. When users found the “Tiguan of the Day” they took a screenshot and submitted it via Direct Messages for a chance at daily prizes. A new clue and a new set of prizes were released everyday for 21 days so users could try their chasing again and again. Clues dropped at 11am, and limited prizes ran out within minutes making the Tiguan one of the most elusive influencers on social media.

Over the course of the campaign, we drove over 146,000 unique visitors to a brand new Instagram profile. 83% of those who engaged with the experience rated the Tiguan “excellent” at a rate more than double the brand norm. They were also 38% more likely to associate the Tiguan as a “model for me” than the brand norm. And despite having almost nonexistent awareness prior to Rule the Road, 66.5% of people who played felt the Tiguan was more unique or significantly more unique than the competition. And they didn’t stop at just game play. After engaging with the experience, 38% talked to a friend about the Tiguan, 36% searched for more information, 37% visited the website, and 38% followed VW on social media. One in four people who played heard about it from a friend, indicating the sharability of the experience.